Catalytic Pyrolysis of Oil Palm Frond Using Graphite Nanofiber (GNF) As Catalyst

Nowadays, people are focused in doing research to find the sustainable renewable energy as the future energy due to the depletion of fossil fuel as the current source of energy. Bio-fuel was observed as one of the alternative of the renewable energy as it is produced from biomass which can be easily obtained. It is proven as the sustainable future energy due to the high market demand which is 11.8 billion litres based on recent report data. Hence, utilizing the biomass by converting oil palm frond into bio-oil is seen as to be one of the possible way to produce bio-fuels by the process of pyrolysis. In this study, the catalytic pyrolysis process of oil palm frond will be carried out.
Catalytic pyrolysis is a process of decomposition of organic material through thermal degradation at high temperature with the absence oxygen and with the presence of catalyst while the product of the pyrolysis is called bio-oil. The objective of the study is to conduct the catalytic pyrolysis of oil palm frond using graphite nanofiber (GNF) as the catalyst support and to study the effectiveness of the catalyst in cracking the biomass. The experiment is conducted by varying the operating parameters ; temperature and catalyst loading. The effectiveness of the catalyst used in cracking the biomass is determined by the yield of the bio-oil product after the reaction.